Ian van Driel laboratory

• 
  Head of Laboratory
  Professor Ian van Driel

  i.vandriel@unimelb.edu.au

  View researcher's webpage

  +61 03 8344 2317

Research Overview

The WHO estimates that bacterial infectious diseases account for ~10 million deaths annually. This area of our research is directed toward maximizing the chances of developing more effective vaccines and antimicrobial drugs through a better understanding of how the immune system combats bacterial infections.

Innate immune responses in infected tissues are essential for controlling invading pathogens in the early phases of infection preventing the rapid replication and widespread dissemination of pathogens. Despite having a vital role, the main cells and factors that control innate immune responses in tissues are poorly defined compared to our knowledge of events in lymphoid organs. Components involved in innate immune responses to pathogens have mostly been studied in isolation and there are few examples where the interplay between distinct innate components that mediate pathogen clearance in vivo is well understood.

To gain an integrated understanding of the in vivo innate immune network in lung tissue, we are investigating the immune response to the intracellular lung bacterial pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila. This important opportunistic pathogen causes Legionnaires’ disease, a vastly under diagnosed infection estimated to cause around 10% of community acquired and nosocomial pneumonia and a disease that is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality.

Staff

Dr Garret Ng

Collaborators

Prof Elizabeth Hartland, Hudson Institute of Medical Research

Research Publications

Click here for the results of a PubMed search of Ian's publications.

1. The Mouse as a Model for Pulmonary Legionella Infection.
   Ng GZ, Solomatina A, van Driel IR, Hartland EL.
   Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1921:399-417. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9048-1_25.
   PMID: 30694506
2. The Salmonella Effector SseK3 Targets Small Rab GTPases.
   Gan J, Scott NE, Newson JPM, Wibawa RR, Wong Fok Lung T, Pollock GL, Ng GZ, van Driel I, Pearson JS, Hartland EL, Giogha C.
   Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2020 Aug 19;10:419. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.00419. eCollection 2020.
   PMID: 32974215 Free PMC article.
3. IFNγ receptor down-regulation facilitates Legionella survival in alveolar macrophages.
   Yang C, McDermot DS, Pasricha S, Brown AS, Bedoui S, Lenz LL, van Driel IR, Hartland EL.
   J Leukoc Biol. 2020 Feb;107(2):273-284. doi: 10.1002/JLB.4MA1019-152R. Epub 2019 Dec 2.
   PMID: 31793076
4. Application of a chemical probe to detect neutrophil elastase activation during inflammatory bowel disease.
   Anderson BM, Poole DP, Aurelio L, Ng GZ, Fleischmann M, Kasperkiewicz P, Morissette C, Drag M, van Driel IR, Schmidt BL, Vanner SJ, Bunnett NW, Edgington-Mitchell LE.
   Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 16;9(1):13295. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-49840-4.
   PMID: 31527638 Free PMC article.
5. The regulation of acute immune responses to the bacterial lung pathogen Legionella pneumophila.
   Brown AS, Yang C, Hartland EL, van Driel IR.
   J Leukoc Biol. 2017 Apr;101(4):875-886. doi: 10.1189/jlb.4MR0816-340R. Epub 2016 Dec 29.
   PMID: 28034914 Review.
6. Cooperation between Monocyte-Derived Cells and Lymphoid Cells in the Acute Response to a Bacterial Lung Pathogen.
   Brown AS, Yang C, Fung KY, Bachem A, Bourges D, Bedoui S, Hartland EL, van Driel IR.
   PLoS Pathog. 2016 Jun 14;12(6):e1005691. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005691. eCollection 2016 Jun.
   PMID: 27300652 Free PMC article.